Al's Shoes & Boots

I went here to get one hole put in a belt. They told me it would cost 20$ and they couldn't do it for two months..."it wouldn't be fair to the people who've been waiting". I wont bother them with my pesky business. Dumb dicks

I was very impressed by the variety of inserts at Al's. Both my wife and I have found that the right over-the-counter inserts (not custom made) can provide a surprising amount of additional comfort to whatever footwear you choose.
Al's, as the name states, carries an impressive array of work and recreational shoes and boots. The employees are very knowledgeable, and in the case of my wife's specific needs, willing to direct customers to another store if there is something that is not carried in-house. Excellent service.

I love this store!
No nonsense- real shoes for real people- especially people with big feet!

Super friendly & helpful Staff, great selection!

I needed to get composite/steel toe boots for work. Wasn't sure what I wanted/needed, but the sales man was extremely helpful in explaining the different pairs and measuring my foot size. Overall a very positive experience.

I wear a size 15, extra wide. Fortuitously, I've lived for decades 1/2 a mile from Al's. If you have large feet, this is the place to go in Portland. Can't speak for dress shoes but any athletic or hiking shoe or boot, work shoes, boots with several animals hides to choose from. I know where to go when I'm there and the staff lets me be. A long time new balance wearer, they have a fine selection, and got my keen hiking boots (actually work boots but they're great for hiking.) Be careful you don't get steel toed if you don't want them. And they have a selection of regular sized shoes, sandals, slippers.

We have bought several pairs of work shoes from Al's for our family. Being located right on 82nd Ave between Woodstock and Foster makes it very easy to find.

The parking lot is a wee bit small, but there is street side parking right around the corner of the store. This store has a wide selection of steel toe/ work shoes to pick from. They have a good variety of different brands (e.g. Wolverine, Keen, Dr. Martens, Caterpillar, etc.).

The price is a little bit more than you would find online, but it's a local store and we like supporting our local businesses. Furthermore, with work shoes it's sometimes best to come try them on to see how they feel before making the purchase.

We had to place an order for a pair since they were out of the size that we needed. The employee assured us that the shoes would be arriving in about a week. After not hearing anything back from them in over a week I decided to give them a call.

The person I talked with advised me that they haven't received the shoes yet and to check back after a few more days. After the 2 week mark I still hadn't heard anything back so I gave them another call and was again advised that the shoes had not yet came in.

This went on for several more weeks and finally into the 5th week mark when I again called and was told the shoes were not in yet. We decided to asked them for a refund since this is now over the 1-month mark. He told me to come into the store and they would refund me.

A few hours later we received a call from one of their employees indicating that he had checked further into our order and that these shoes were actually backordered but he expected them to be delivered within the next week or so. Since we had already walked over 4 weeks we opted to just wait it out.

We had called the store about 5-6 times previously to check on the status of our shoe order and were NOT informed that the shoes were on backorder nor did they do any additional follow up on the delay. It wasn't until we asked for a refund that somebody finally contacted the manufacturer and provided some concrete information as to why the shoes took so long to get to us.

While the shoes we purchased was a good quality product at a good price, we will probably not be coming back here due to the bad service and lack of communication/ follow-up. Had we known initially that the shoe was backordered we could have chosen a different pair/ brand instead of waiting. Their lack of communication and follow-up was frustrating to say the least.

My Keen Steel Toes had an issue.
I brought them back nearly a year later and they returned them without question for a brand new pair.... GREAT SERVICE!
Will definitely go back for specialty or work boot needs!

Great service and locally owned for 70 years! Got exactly what we needed at a fair price. This will be my permanent home for boots.

These guys are very nice and helpful, and have a decent selection of work/safety shoes, including big sizes. I was able to find a semi-difficult to locate pair of steel toed shoes there recently (Keens) and the guys who helped me big in person and on the phone were knowledgeable and chill.

The negative reviews on this place are more people airing their personal issues with themselves than with the store. They have a wide variety of styles and prices on boots/shoes. I've bought my work boots here for the last 5 years and have never had a negative experience here. I would avoid belts, socks and other accessories from this place because the prices are a bit high. Overall though, if you have a horrible attitude you will have a horrible experience. No matter the store. I would recommend this store to others.

I highly recommend this place. I visited a number of different places that specialize in selling boots and this place had the best selection and best prices. Customer service was also amazing. I scored a pair of dewalt steel toed boots and they are more comfortable than my regular shoes.